WHAT THE ANTS TAUGHT ME

The ants in single file leaving the trash can

Each carrying a white crumb are carrying

(actually) me to that tiny hole in the fence post.

Bit by bit I am carried away and increased.

In the dark they will make me the fungus as food

For their eggs. And no matter how hard I try

I will never be able to thank them enough.

For they have taught me soldiering,

And the will required to master the private

And shoulder the gates that divide the dark

From the darkness. For they have taught me

How necessity precedes form. For they have

Taught me by carrying me off in their ice tong jaws

What it is to be whole in parts.